They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
 

Just after 1 PM on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, my brother Mario fell asleep at the wheel of his car and hit an embankment on Route 22, near Newark NJ.  He died on the way to the hospital.

Considering the way he went and the last year or so of his life (my parents cared for him constantly), my mother determined that there would be no wake.  Just a small, private funeral service at the the Church of the Assumption, a Roman Catholic church near their home, followed by a burial outside of Atlantic City where my parents have an arrangement.

For three days, friends and family gathered at my parents’ home as people would have in the olden days.  On Thursday, we gathered at the church for the funeral rites and then proceeded to a small private cemetery just outside of Atlantic City.

The Roman Catholic Funeral Mass is not unlike the Episcopal service; however, many more choices are available for readings and other parts of the liturgy.  I’ve linked to an RC site which explains most of it.  Specific readings (which I chose as the liturgist for the service) included Job 19:1, 23-26 for the Old Testament reading, Psalm 25 and Revelation 21:1-7 from the New Testament.  The Gospel reading was John 11: 17-27 and Father Armand preached a beautiful and theologically rich sermon around it.

Those who know me well also know the problems my brother has had in his life with addiction.  My parents had been of the belief that he probably only had a few months to live and it would probably not be out of line to say that this event put a quick and merciful end to the inevitable.

That said, I would not want to lessen the sadness of this.  I have always said that addiction is an illness.  Although the results of this illness affected others perhaps as badly as it did the victim in no way should castigate my brother.

Those who knew him, knew him; those who didn’t should have.

“You only are immortal, the creator and maker of mankind; and we are mortal, formed of the earth, and to earth shall we return.  For so did you ordain when you created me, saying, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return.’  All of us go down to the dust, yet even at the grave we make our song:  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”